Clemency

Name: Clemency
Genre: Drama
Released: December 27, 2019
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Aldis Hodge, Alfre Woodard, Alma Martinez, Danielle Brooks, Debbie Pollack

2019

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Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Ratings

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Ratings

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Clemency

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Movie Details & Credits

Neon | Release Date: December 27, 2019 | Not Rated

Starring: Aldis Hodge, Alfre Woodard, Alma Martinez, Danielle Brooks, Debbie Pollack, Dennis Haskins, LaMonica Garrett, Michael O'Neill, Michelle C. Bonilla, Noshir Dalal, Richard Gunn, Richard Schiff, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Wendell Pierce

Movie Facts:

Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Summary: Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard). As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.

Director: Chinonye Chukwu

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 112 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Chandler Levack

Jan 16, 2020

This is a film with an unforgettable story and performances that will edge into your DNA. Read full review

Roxana Hadadi

Dec 19, 2019

Alfre Woodard captures with exquisite nuance the emotional and physical toll it might take on someone, spending years overseeing executions; she grounds the film, which otherwise strikes a balance between broad empathy and a pointed call for criminal justice reform. Read full review

David Rooney

Feb 1, 2019

It's the humanity and compassion invested across all the principal characters that makes this contemplative examination of the terrible weight of taking a life so commanding. Read full review

Christopher Machell

Jul 16, 2020

Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency is a sombre, layered study of the human cost of capital punishment. One of this era’s most powerful actors, Alfre Woodard, leads with one of her best, most understated performances yet. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

Dec 17, 2019

Chinonye Chukwu’s film is a morality play with a true sense of contradiction and melancholia. Read full review

Liam Lacey

Jan 22, 2020

Reservations aside, Clemency has moments of shivering gravity. Almost all of them involve complex emotions registered in Woodard’s extraordinary face, her dignified resistance to a turmoil of emotions within her, and her agonized need for forgiveness. Read full review

Candice Frederick

Dec 23, 2019

Clemency is a film that is just almost great. The level of restraint Chukwu has in her writing and execution, while admirable, is the very thing that prevents it from truly soaring. Read full review

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User Reviews

alejandro970

Feb 18, 2023

There have already been films that put the debatable issue of the death penalty on the table; what breathes fresh air into this film are the performances by Woodard and Hodge, which are absorbing enough.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

estonism

Jan 12, 2020

A must see, slow-moving powerhouse. Excellent performances all around. Slight B-movie feel with at least a golden globe impact. Alfre Woodard is great. Aldis is another good performance. Hats off. Only found this in one theater in NY (Kips Bay) and traveled to it with an entourage and couldA must see, slow-moving powerhouse. Excellent performances all around. Slight B-movie feel with at least a golden globe impact. Alfre Woodard is great. Aldis is another good performance. Hats off. Only found this in one theater in NY (Kips Bay) and traveled to it with an entourage and could not be happier about the decision.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GreatMartin

Jan 24, 2020

There is no doubt that Alfre Woodard is the star of "Clemency" as the warden, Bernadine Williams, who oversees the execution of prisoners but Aldis Hodge as Anthony Woods is a prisoner convicted of killing a police officer and serving 15 years is going to be executed that gives her someThere is no doubt that Alfre Woodard is the star of "Clemency" as the warden, Bernadine Williams, who oversees the execution of prisoners but Aldis Hodge as Anthony Woods is a prisoner convicted of killing a police officer and serving 15 years is going to be executed that gives her some stiff competition, especially in their scenes together.

Capital punishment is looked at from all angles starting with an execution going wrong and reflected in the face of Woodard. We hear from the mother of the dead policeman, Vernee Watson, and the crowds outside protesting the execution. We meet Williams's husband, played by Wendell Pierce, and we are shown how his wife's job is affecting their marriage, not to forget Danielle Brooks as Evette, Woods's high school girlfriend at the time he was arrested, distancing herself from him for the 15 years. Another point of view comes from Richard Schiff as a lawyer who believes Woods is innocent and the religious point of view, as the prison's chaplain, is expressed by Michael O'Neill.

From the opening shot of Alfre Woodard supervising the execution that goes wrong to another shot focused on her face as she walks through the halls of the prison the actress, this is not an easy picture to watch. Chinoye Chukwu wrote the screenplay and directed the movie with a hard to see opening segment that draws you into the movie but at the same time using Woodward's face to show what this woman goes through every time someone is executed!

Alfre Woodard will hopefully be remembered at the end of the year when award season starts and we should be seeing more of Aldis Hodge as a leading man.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Brent_Marchant

Jan 26, 2020

Capital punishment issues are frequently the stuff of robust social discourse, but how often is it scrutinized at the personal level? That's what this intense new drama seeks to do, both for the executioner and those awaiting that ultimate fate. How does it feel to be the individual on deathCapital punishment issues are frequently the stuff of robust social discourse, but how often is it scrutinized at the personal level? That's what this intense new drama seeks to do, both for the executioner and those awaiting that ultimate fate. How does it feel to be the individual on death row? And how does it feel to be the one who orders that the final act be sanctioned? The moral dilemmas faced by all involved may not be as easy or clear cut to decipher as one might think, especially when execution procedures go awry or when the possibility of an innocent individual being improperly put to death rises to the surface. Alfre Woodard gives a superb performance as a seemingly no-nonsense prison warden who grows increasingly troubled about what she does while trying to remain ever the professional. The picture's chilling cinematography and excellent supporting cast lend much to the production, though the film could have used more development of the protagonist's motivations and back story, as well as a slightly brisker pace overall. These shortcomings aside, however, this one is likely to haunt viewers after leaving the theater, giving us all much to think about when it comes to matters of justice, life and death.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Feb 4, 2020

The devastating opening execution sequence sets the tone for a absorbing and relentlessly dark drama. Alfre Woodard plays a prison warden who's about to oversee her 12th execution. This film examines how it affects her professional and personal life. With Woodard in the lead, you can expectThe devastating opening execution sequence sets the tone for a absorbing and relentlessly dark drama. Alfre Woodard plays a prison warden who's about to oversee her 12th execution. This film examines how it affects her professional and personal life. With Woodard in the lead, you can expect a moving performance and she delivers. Writer/director Chinonye Chukwu takes a pared down approach, which means the pace is deliberate and the observations are restrained. It's less about the injustice of a wrongful conviction than Just Mercy (my review) and more about the significant toll that state execution takes on those affected.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JEsFsF

Apr 7, 2020

I saw this a couple of days ago and I can't remember a light moment in it, though I think there was one. Slow, sad, you get a sense of creep towards something bad inexorably. Not even much drama, but it has soul, if only to watch it wither. Well done, worth watching, but as I said to myI saw this a couple of days ago and I can't remember a light moment in it, though I think there was one. Slow, sad, you get a sense of creep towards something bad inexorably. Not even much drama, but it has soul, if only to watch it wither. Well done, worth watching, but as I said to my family immediately afterwards, "you're left with nothing but the realization that the death penalty sucks. You can't escape that, even if you're for it."… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

bbonk

Apr 1, 2020

Slow, slow, politically biased movie with questionable scenarios. Couldn't even watch past 45 minutes. Why is a prison warden all of a sudden upset over the death penalty? Why in the world would they have some hack doctor be botching an execution? Why should we be meant to feel that aSlow, slow, politically biased movie with questionable scenarios. Couldn't even watch past 45 minutes. Why is a prison warden all of a sudden upset over the death penalty? Why in the world would they have some hack doctor be botching an execution? Why should we be meant to feel that a self confessed cop killer is the victim. And why are all the people working at the prison a bunch of drunks in a local bar. Give me a break. This is one of the worst, contrived, movies I've seen in a while.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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